Hey Everyone,
Check out what I bought off a friend of mine.....it's an Ibanez Soundgear 6-String bass guitar, the neck is in good condition, as are the frets and nut, all it needs are a new bridge, or set of 6 saddles to fit the existing bridge, and a set of new strings, the pickups look to be a set of actives cause there's a 9V battery holder-compartment on the back of the body, just wondering what model it is.
Here's a pic of it:
Six-string? Looks like a no-string to me.
Hahahaha....*snort*......*snort*.......Originally Posted by Simon Barden
Six-string? Looks like a no-string to me.
Nice! I've been playing a 6-string bass since '03. About a year ago, I changed tuning from B-C to E-E guitar tuning, as I really almost never used that low B string anymore, and the guitar tuning opens up the world of chord voicings not normally available to bass players.
I've not played any of their 6ers, but all of the 4- and 5-string Soundgear basses I've played were pretty nice. One of the best values in the bass world, too.
What Did You Play Today? ~PJS~
Build #1) KH-1 - November 2019 GOTM
Anything on the back of the headstock? That's normally where the model number is, just above the serial number. It should read SR xxx.
Yep, here's a pic of the back of the headstock:
The serial number appears to be F511944.
It's a bit blurry, but it seems to say 'Made in Japan', which can only be a good thing, and the tuners are real Gotohs, not a cheaper copy. So almost certainly a high-end model and reasonably old, before they changed to the current serial number and model markings. Serial number indicates it was made in March 1995 at the FujiGen Gakki factory, Japan.
Anything written on that 24th fret marker?
I'd guess it's a SR1306 model, so pretty much top of the line at the time. Later versions got more fancy with a 3-band EQ. Catalogue list price was US$1899 in July 1995. The hardware should be black (the tuners and knobs are), so what remains of the bridge is probably a replacement. Maybe the original was taken off and used on another bass? In the UK they seem to sell for around half the original price now, but there aren't a lot of them about, so it's hard to say exactly. Can only see one of the prettier looking updated models. Not a huge market for 6 string bases I suspect. Get a good replacement bridge and it could be worth up to £800-£900/AU$1500-$1700 if you find the right buyer.
1995 catalogue page:
It's a bit blurry, but it seems to say 'Made in Japan', which can only be a good thing, and the tuners are real Gotohs, not a cheaper copy. So almost certainly a high-end model and reasonably old, before they changed to the current serial number and model markings. Serial number indicates it was made in March 1995 at the FujiGen Gakki factory, Japan.
Anything written on that 24th fret marker?
I'd guess it's a SR1306 model, so pretty much top of the line at the time. Later versions got more fancy with a 3-band EQ. Catalogue list price was US$1899 in July 1995. The hardware should be black (the tuners and knobs are), so what remains of the bridge is probably a replacement. Maybe the original was taken off and used on another bass? In the UK they seem to sell for around half the original price now, but there aren't a lot of them about, so it's hard to say exactly. Can only see one of the prettier looking updated models. Not a huge market for 6 string bases I suspect. Get a good replacement bridge and it could be worth up to £800-£900/AU$1500-$1700 if you find the right buyer.
1995 catalogue page:
Just near the 24th Fret there's a little white label that just says "Custom Made", from looking at the catalogue page you posted, it does look like what I have is a Soundgear model SR1306PM, hopefully I can find either a replacement bridge, or, a set of replacement string-saddles.
Last edited by DrNomis_44; 27-08-2021 at 07:01 PM.
^^^ That's correct for the 1306.
From what it says in that catalogue page, the body uses Mahogany and Paduk, so, I'm thinking that this 6-string bass is definitely well-worth restoring to a playable condition, I wonder what gauge of strings they had factory-fitted?, I'm assuming that they would have been round-wounds.
I'm more keen on getting it restored to a playable condition for my own use rather than for sale, that is, I intend to keep it.
I found this pic of a 1994 Ibanez SR1306 6-String Bass on the internet, and it looks virtually identical to the 6-String Bass I have, even the bridge looks identical, so, I'm thinking that the bridge on my SR1306PM is the original one just that the previous owner somehow lost all the original string-saddles, and for whatever reason, installed the bridgeplate back-to-front and put guitar strings on it, and put a block of wood (I kid you not) underneath the guitar strings.
I removed all the bridgeplate mounting-screws on my SR1306PM, and here's what I found, note the pattern of the holes, this confirms that the bridgeplate is the original one and was installed back-to-front by the original owner, I'm going to re-install it the correct way-around:
Last edited by DrNomis_44; 27-08-2021 at 06:12 PM.
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